


floral patterns

by flyingisabetterwordforfalling (FlyingFalling)



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awesome Morgana, Bisexuality, Demisexual Arthur Pendragon, F/F, F/M, Florist Arthur, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Kilgharrah ships it, Language of Flowers, M/M, Matchmaking, Morgana ships it, Multi, Sibling Bonding, Tattoo Artist Merlin, florist and tattoo artist, flower tattoos, oblivious idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-24
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-26 17:35:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9913631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyingFalling/pseuds/flyingisabetterwordforfalling
Summary: The Flower Shop (Florist Arthur) & Tattoo Parlour (Tattoo Artist Merlin) AU absolutely no one asked for, here you have it anyway: Oblivious pining idiots in love, awkwardness and flowers, lots of flowers and of course romantics in denial.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea where this idea came from, but I absolutely love flowers and tattoos, so this mixture is just about perfect, at least for me. -I hope you like my story just as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)

"Another one, Arthur, seriously?"

He stays silent, and absent-mindedly rubs his arm, where it had been freshly bandaged after the tattoo artist had merely smiled encouragingly at him, telling him to come back later for the finishing progress- or rather to give the new permanent work of art on his body the last and finishing touches.

As her colleague and even more as her boss he just huffs at her, still Morgana could not be less impressed by his usually dismissive glare. The result of growing up together; thus she is as immune to his reactions just as he is to hers. Trying to ignore her never actually worked either, she just kept talking until he eventually did listen to her. He simply rolls his eyes while she talks herself into a rage, and he is actually slightly glad she cannot see his face while he does.

"...every normal person would just go over there and ask him out on a date... You have it bad, brother dear, very, very bad."

Arthur just turns around and makes sure to water the floral arrangements, knowing their client will come and pick them up himself in about half an hour. Their flower shop had in fact long since reached and passed its business hours and yet the client was an old friend of the two siblings and who was Arthur to decline a mutual friend's almost cautious seeming request.

He felt even a bit sorry for the poor lad, he was merely the one who had arranged the flowers for him but Leon would have to give them to his long-time partner, along with going down on one knee and a question that would certainly change his and thus her life as well. Even Morgana anticipated his girlfriend's answer -not that she would ever admit to being a closeted romantic.

 

A few weeks later Arthur works with his sleeves rolled up to his upper arms, most of his tattoo sleeves visible and he does not care that customers may look at them and then met his eyes questioningly. It has nothing to do with his job, with being a florist, he even suspects they would not look at his tattoos twice if he worked in his father's office and dressed in much more formal wear.

However, now and then most people's gaze lingers on the delicate flower pattern for some time, seemingly admiring them, wondering about their symbolism. He is not one to talk about it, does not tend to tell all too many people that each flower stands for a person close to him, most of them relatives and old friends.  
The sleeve on his left arm started with the pink carnation, right next to his heart, and at the time he had thought his father would never allow him to get anywhere near a tattoo parlour and then, after impatiently waiting for his eighteenth birthday to finally arrive it had surprisingly been his father himself who had given Arthur the money to pay for his very first tattoo.

Arthur had gotten it right on the 18th anniversary of his mother's death, only ever knowing her from his father's tales and videos he had kept for him to watch. The carnation on his father's arm as opposed to his was much simpler, without colour and yet Arthur knew it would be a piercing, or even blazing red if he had chosen for it to be filled with colour.  
To him, and thus also his son, the meaning was clear enough -and not even Morgana knew about their father having this one and only permanent mark on his skin, she had probably never even seen him without him wearing one of his many dress shirts. She would certainly call it soppy and yet she was not one to judge other people's emotional gestures and even tributes to loved ones.

Her first -and therefore back then actually secret- tattoo she had gotten had been long before legally being allowed to get one, and yet she never had it covered or even removed. Especially not after their father eventually found out about it, solely months away from her coming of age, and he had been angry to say the least. Not about the tattoo itself, but because in his opinion she had not even considered the risks of health and thus he had been even more angry, about her hiding such a huge decision from him, furious even when she refused to tell him her friend's name who had been the artist behind the tattoo in the first place.

Even now her brother, of course having seen said tattoo when he was younger as well as having bothered her about it, asking her time and time again who the letter stood for, was not entirely sure about its meaning. Not that she had ever actually told him, but he did not need to be a special investigator to know that the letter did not stand for her own first name.

They were half-siblings and Morgana had never been one to talk lengthily about the relatives she used to live with, her step-father and her mother as well as some siblings, before moving in with Uther and her half-brother. Years ago, as a child she had been even more private about her other side of the family, the ones Arthur himself was not related to, and she also did not even talk about them at their, meaning her parents', funeral.

Ironically the two of them, Arthur who had always secretly wanted a sibling and the on the contrary heavily withdrawn Morgana who was not as enthusiastic about getting to know him, had in the end bonded over her getting adopted and taken in by her birth father, even more so over both of them having lost their mothers.  
Arthur used to listen intently to every single word and story about her family, asking all kinds of questions, especially about her mother, what it was like to have one or even a second parent. Not knowing how much his questions hurt but also soothed her by giving her a chance to remember the fond moments, all while telling him about a mother's love.

They fought as much as most siblings seemed to do and yet, even after years and years, with merely a look at the iris on his arm he could not think of a better flower describing his sister and their sibling love for one another. Arthur had not been the slightest bit surprised when she had mocked him for getting yet another tattoo a few years ago, by now she was mocking him for each and every one he got; it had well-nigh become her only reaction to him getting inked once again.

Still, she had kept quiet after he told her that to him it was a symbol for lost love and grief, compassion even but at the same time it also stood for strength and valour. All the things he saw in her, the things that connected them. They never, not even once, spoke about the ensuing evening of getting hopelessly drunk together while talking or rather sobbing about their feelings. Expressing and talking openly about their feelings and heartfelt wishes. Neither of which one of them was good at. Not even a little bit.

And now there were so many more flowers on his arm, each one of them still holding its meaning. They had gotten even more beautiful as time passed, the artist he had went to for the last few years designing them as Arthur described them, almost exactly the way he wanted them to look like and in most cases even more stunning than that.  
Arthur admired the man's work, and once in a while he came over for a little chat and doodled floral patterns on their napkins whenever they sat together and just talked about their respective professions. Over the years they had even become friends, nonetheless had in the beginning not actually met outside their respective workstations all that often and had taken a while to eventually change that.

 

By now, Arthur did not even remember anymore when they had started to refer to one another by their first names, could not pinpoint when the transition from neighbours to friends had began. Not that he had even back then believed Merlin to actually have that name as his actual first name -and once his sister had found out about it and Arthur calling Merlin not Mr Emrys anymore, the teasing about their apparent little fling had only gotten worse.  
She had been smirking behind his back for days, weeks even, every time Merlin had spent his lunch break with them, sitting slightly in the back of the glasshouse where they displayed their flowers during summertime and overwintered others once it got too cold for them to stay outside.

At the time Morgana did not know that Merlin and him were in fact not sleeping together, that their sudden change from addressing each other formally to giving each other playful nicknames was not really evidence for them going out and being more than friends.

Their amicable relationship was by now the closest Arthur had felt for another person in years, besides his sister and best friend, she was family and as much as he loved her, compared to Merlin she just did not count, neither did his other friends.  
It had been strange to realize that what he felt for Merlin was so much more and it had developed over time and once he understood what it meant, it had been too late to try and stop himself from becoming even more fond of Merlin than he already was.

 

Studying the other man, slightly hunched over the little garden table in the middle of the glasshouse was always a captivating sight, his dark strands of hair falling into his eyes, as dark as the little spots of ink he seemed to constantly have on his fingers, his lips more often than not pressed together in deep concentration, once in a while he seemed to absent-mindedly be licking or biting them, all while smiling to himself. Arthur was sure that he was most definitively not even aware of it all.

Aware of something entirely different was Morgana of all people, and Arthur was not even going to ask what in the end had given his feelings away. Subtlety would never be his greatest strength and despite him liking Merlin's works, his art and his ability to talk about absolutely everything without it ever becoming too much he must have somehow radiated not actually seeing him solely as his best mate but also wanting him to be more than that.  
There is just so much he likes about him, one time he still managed to almost lull Arthur to sleep with his stories alone, which were not in the slightest boring, it was actually quite the opposite. Merlin was captivating, and even though Arthur was not the artist between the two of them, he could not help but think of the other man as beautiful.

They way he leant forward when he worked, a habit he seemed not to notice anymore and simply stayed like that for sometimes even hours on end, his fingers brushing ever so slightly over Arthur's skin. Again and again, his touch had become somewhat familiar. Although he had known what it felt like to touch Merlin as well as to be touched by him, laying there, underneath Merlin's fingers as he worked, felt different.  
Arthur knew it was strange to sometimes shy away from the tattoo artist, knew he should cancel their appointments when he felt deep down it was not the right time to see Merlin and despite that he had also tried his hardest not to blush at his last one.

It was weird to react like that as a regular and more so as a friend, he trusted Merlin and he had been his client for so long, knew almost every single one of the artist's movement sequences by now and it was just plain weird to not want to be touched by him from time to time -consent was imporant, but as a client he of course knew it was his own choice to do so, no one was forcing him, lest of all Merlin.  
Arthur Pendragon was an adult and as such he most certainly did not go red in the face when the person he fancied was even in close proximity. It was embarrassing.

But that day Merlin had stumbled slightly when he finally stood up, laughing about his ill luck that particularly day, about one of his feet having fallen asleep. He was then joking about still not being used to sitting still for so long, even though it was basically his job, and then he had merely kept gabbling on and on about Arthur being the client and that it would make more sense if something like that would have happened to him.  
  
In the meantime Arthur had been trying not to say or even do anything that in general would be considered as really, really stupid, like leaning into the hands that still clung to his chest, the part of him Merlin had grabbed when Arthur had already been in the progress of getting up.  
That was in fact how they ended up in a tangle of limbs on top of the client chair which had not been placed back in his usual position by then and of course Merlin just had to make it all worse by landing right on top of Arthur all while giggling into the crook of his neck, which resulted in Arthur attempting to fight down a harsh intake of breath, wincing when the other man moved ever so slightly to avoid getting in contact with his wounded skin, or rather his almost finished tattoo.

Within seconds and Arthur going completely rigid underneath him Merlin had stood up, climbing down from him, which took even more time than it should have. Mainly because the tattoo artist seemed to try his best not to touch Arthur even further.

"Sorry, mate.", was all he eventually said, before he seemingly proceeded to look rather bashfully at the ground.

There had been this awkward atmosphere between them, when they finally said good bye.

 

Now, as Arthur tries to figure out how to arrange something for his father's birthday or in fact to at least get a sample out of what he is currently doing, Morgana once again lingers behind him, leaning against the doorframe and watches his every move.  
He demonstratively does not turn around when she huffs, definitely not reacting to whatever it is she wants to complain about this time.

"You might be interested to know that a certain tattoo artist is looking for a temporary employee, but rumour has it that his studio might change hands in a while and that he is actually leaving Emrys Ink behind..."

She mentions it in a matter-of-fact tone and Arthur whirls around, immediately trying to hide his sudden reaction and at that she smirks in an almost cold manner, which is just her usual aura of annoyance, now it looks a bit worried -if you knew how to decipher her expressions that was.

"Wow, he reacts... did you even talk to him, brother dear?", at his lack of an answer and thus staying silent, certainly just by the look in his eyes her voice grows a little softer, "Arthur, you know that I love you, but you're an idiot. Merlin is by far the best thing that ever came into your life, or at least in the last few years and remember you've got me, your brilliant sister, in your life now."

Arthur puts his working materials aside and leans back against the bench, crossing his arms in front of him. Under all that sarcasm lay honest concern, thus he waited for her to continue not wanting to mess it up by answering with a similar amount of scathing humour.

"Chill, he is not actually leaving. Not yet at least, we've talked unlike my dear brother because now he tries avoidance to get over him... I just wanted to get you to listen for once, and it worked, didn't it. Truth is: Merlin plans to expand his parlour, but before he does he wants to hire some more people, nothing to worry about -and if you did, you're even more of an idiot. Merlin's not going anywhere anytime soon."

At that, as foolish as it is -he is so not going to agree with her, no thank you very much- relief washes over him, and even if Merlin did leave to work someplace else he would not be gone entirely, they would stay in contact. Arthur is certain of it, well for the most part.

"I just wanted to give him space...?"

It's sounding more like a question, even to his own years, and Morgana snorts, and yet looks at him with a warm look in her eyes, waving her hand slightly more dismissively than he thinks was intended, prompting him to continue to keep talking.

"He's not even interested, besides he's dating another person already."

He gave her a dirty look when she burst out laughing, dramatically wishing non-existent tears out of the corners of her eyes.

"Seriously, I cannot believe we're related: he is actually single and bi. Not that I am usually one for outing other people, but you still don't seem to know that tiny little detail... He told me a while ago, thinking you were not even bisexual or pan or whatever else you could be. You oblivious fools are so meant to be together, it's not even funny anymore."

Arthur gapes at her, he had hoped and thought he might interpret too much into every little glance, every touch besides the ones that had to do with their jobs. They had in fact never actually talked about their sexualities or about being interested in certain people -not that he did not want to know, or tried to hide his identity, but a slightly selfish part of Arthur had always hoped that Merlin was just like him and thus not solely into women.

"He's not straight?"

His question, everything he gets out after her statement, makes her laugh even harder and she needs a while to calm down before answering, her tone even more amused, if that is even possible.

"Merlin's many, many things, but straight is definitively not one of them. Neither is his new assistant by the way."

"No way..."

"Yes way, her name's Gwen Smith and she has just the cutest smile."

Arthur leans even more back, laughing at his sister's words, not about her per se, but at the clear as day adoration in her voice.

"You're into her, that's bloody brilliant, congratulations, Morgana how does it feel like to find out you've got an actual heart and to eventually fall in love?"

She glares at him, sending literal daggers his way with a mere look, but she smirks. Which in their terms is even more dangerous than any other reaction of hers.

"Great, especially now that I'll have a date, our second one by the way, tomorrow. So, you'll have enough time to go over and sweep the poor and lonely lad of his feet before both of you start getting moody, not that you aren't already. What about right now, I'll even fix your piteous experiment of a gift , you do know that Father hates that colour scheme?"

Arthur is once again just glaring at his sister.

"Oh shush, will you. Go on, tell him. He won't break once you're sobbing about your unconditional love for him and vice versa."  
  
  
Lately he resembles a nervous mess whenever he is around Merlin and therefore it takes him days before Arthur finally gathers all his courage and goes over to the tattoo parlour with the intention to once and for all just ask the other man out.  
Arthur really, actually more than anything else these days, wants to do exactly that but once he sees Merlin, beaming at him the moment he spots Arthur from behind the counter, the florist cannot say the words he intends to say.  
  
Instead he greets Merlin, accepts the hug and tries not to hold Merlin for longer than he thinks is socially deemed appropriate for people who are nothing more than friends, waiting for the other to let go before eventually asking if he would like to come over during his lunch break, which gets him a funny look because, after all, it is technically not even time for a morning break. In reality he had to make up an entirely different reason for being here in the first place.  
  
And yet the smile does not falter, and Merlin nods.  
  
"Thank you, you're saving me from having to listen to all kinds of descriptions of how marvellous and great and pretty your sister is -not that I don't agree, but it gets a tad bit annoying after some time."  
  
Arthur chuckles at Merlin who is now grinning widely and his not so subtle hint of obviously also knowing about his friend's and Morgana's recent dates. The way he sounds he seems to mean it half in earnest, half in jest: being more happy for the two of them than actually being on edge about it all.  
  
Later that day Merlin does come over, leaving the parlour for once not closed during his break, because Morgana and his or rather their regular guest said hellos and good bye at the door and literally switched places. Still, Arthur is sure that there won't be much productive labour or even clients, because the tattoo parlour will certainly be closed for some time, if not he pities the poor soul already who might have to listen to the two women's oaths of love -okay, by now he might be ever so slightly bitter due to them being as happy and content as they are. For that reason, Arthur feels all the more guilty about his current fretfulness.  
  
The elderly gentleman, in fact the erstwhile owner of their shop, who had been visiting their shop for years now, offering them cookies, and all kind of baked goods as well as offering the strangest words of grand-fatherly advice under the guise of only being there for examining the quality of the flowers looked up when Merlin almost rushed past him, and kept pretending to study each and every flower as well as their petals thoroughly.  
  
Still, Arthur had seen his all too knowing smile. As a result he tried not to show his somehow pleasant surprise as well as amusement all that much; Mr K or in reality called Kilgharrah, had been bothering him ever since he had seen Merlin here for the first time a while ago, asking Arthur why the modest young man never left with a bouquet of flowers or even a single one at that and even remembering the pitch of his voice now was enough to make Arthur grin.  
  
He was glad that Merlin had already left then, all the same not that sure if the stage whispering the former shopkeeper had chosen to declare that very sentence in had not been heard outside the shop as well.    
  
"What?", Merlin greets him -today seems one of these days where usual greeting are too overrated- looking slightly startled.  
  
"Oh, nothing. Just remembering something about being one side of a very important coin and destiny always finding its way."  
  
Before he even says the last few words, Arthur hears a low chuckle, quickly disguised as a cough from the side but when he glances over to Mr Kilgharrah the older man is gently adjusting an arrangement, as if nothing ever happened.  
  
Merlin looks even more confused when he follows his gaze, and Arthur does not deem it necessary to explain what is going on. Not that Merlin would understand it anyway, with Arthur in that case clearly leaving out any part about him being interested in the very friend he would have to explain the whole situation to as well as Mr K's constant remarks about Arthur finally having to make up his mind and court Merlin already.  
  
His train of thought is not yet finished, when said elderly gentleman not so gently straightens his back, once again moving way too fast for his age and back problems and comes over to the counter in front of which Merlin is still standing and trying to make small talk while Arthur also tries to not let this get even more awkward, and yet making it even more so with his one-syllable answers.  
  
Mr Kilgharrah screws up his nose, pointing at the flowers he had picked out individually and then put in front of Arthur, already explaining that these ones needed to get watered more often and that he can clearly see that their lack of proper care.  
  
That amount of criticism gets not only Arthur to eye him carefully, waiting if he has to add more to his rather harsh sounding statements. Normally Mr K is not that disagreeable, but then he turns to Merlin, looking him up and down with an unreadable expression.  
  
"Young man,  would you help me with this... what do you have to say to that? Don't you think these flowers require special care and a loving hand?"  
  
Merlin stares at him for a few seconds, obviously wondering why he would be asked about this at all, before seemingly remembering his good manners.  
  
"Yes, Sir, I do think they need to be cared for, to be even more beautiful than they already are. ...Which might not be possible after all, I dare say, because Mr Pendragon here is, and I don't say this to be disrespectful in any way, my good Sir, in fact really good at his job."    
  
Now it is Arthur who is a bit gobsmacked, he knew of course that Merlin liked flowers and to be around them, especially here with Arthur and once in a while Morgana -who recently spends her free time rather elsewhere- but it had always been Arthur who complimented the tattoo artist on his works. Then said tattoo artist looks suddenly down, when the former shopkeeper puts the required amount of money on the counter and promptly hands the bouquet to him as if it is the most logical thing to do in such a scenario.  
With an amused glint in his eyes the older man explains the meaning behind the flowers he has picked out: red tulips as well as yellow tulips were both a symbol for love, more precisely he tells the two equally stunned young men before him, red tulips symbolize hope but also the declaration of love.  
  
Merlin does not answer directly, but by then he is intently looking at Arthur who gets slightly more nervous under his gaze with every passing second, and finally he opens his mouth to question the meaning of the other flower, without turning to look away and thus still facing Arthur.  
  
Arthur, of course, due to having a slight obsession with the Language of Flowers knows the answer to that question but it is once again the elderly gentleman answering, his amusement barely even recognizable but clear as day if you knew him for as long as Arthur did.  
  
"In my days we used tulips mostly to declare our affections to one another, but truth be told especially the yellow ones were used if our beloved also happened to be male, hence nowadays you call it a symbol for gay love. -That will be all, thank you Mr Pendragon, and I'm dreadfully sorry, I didn't quite catch your name?", when Merlin automatically answers, Arthur does not try to glare at Mr K, of course he knows Merlins name, his full name at that, oh the mending old matchmaker, "I was only too pleased to help. Have a good one, my boys."  
  
  
In the end, it is not Arthur who months later gets a new flower tattoo symbolizing a person he loves, even though it might as well be way too soon.  
For that matter it is actually Merlin -the one who is actually the tattoo artist and thus hates couple tattoos and refuses to give them to the ones who have just gotten together- who asks his long-time friend and now colleague Gwen, for such a tattoo. Merlin's by then partner chooses a sword.  
After all a sword obviously means strength and protection, two of the many things he loves about Merlin. He had told him before his partner had tattooed it into his skin even though he did protest a bit beforehand; but Arthur just cannot not let the chance pass, of all the people he knows, their names are the most ironic ones even more so now that they have actually gotten together.

It was a tight victory against Morgana and her girlfriend, because Gwen had told them all her actual name at Leon's and Freya's, in fact her best friend's, wedding. After hours and hours of drinking and altogether having a great time, she had told them that she was actually called Guinevere -which they of course knew already, still a slightly drunk Arthur could not stop giggling about the thought that his life seemed to have become a very-not-straight modern adaption of a British legend.

Arthur and Merlin and Morgana and Guinevere. He hereby ignored, that Lance's first name was actually Lancelot, as was Percy's Percival and Gwaine... well, his parent's were history professors, what did you expect?

It was during the wedding party that he told Merlin, in case they should one day consider adopting -which promptly caused Merlin to almost choke on his food, considering the fact that they were not even dating for a whole year- to never ever call their future child Mordred, regardless of gender.

Morgana had then leaned over, winking at the other couple, while telling them she rather liked that name, and because the tipsy version of Arthur seemed to be actually really concerned about that Merlin had to promise him, should they ever become fathers they would certainly not adopt a child that was in any way named after people that had anything to do with King Arthur's demise, and besides Merlin reminded him with a fond smile, he was there to protect him.  
  
Always would, expect from maybe his sister, or her and Gwen's potential children or even their own... which did end up a rather long list. Despite that, Merlin would be there for him, because in the end they had found one another, had eventually realized they were two sides of the same coin.

 

 


End file.
